Rossville man arrested after baby left in van

Arkansas-Oral Roberts Live Blog

A Rossville man was arrested Monday night after he left a baby inside his van while shopping for groceries, police said.

When Rossville Police Department Officer William Blevins responded to a call about 7:45 p.m. in the grocery store parking lot, he found a woman standing next to a 1998 GMC Safari. The car was off. A passenger's side sliding door sat open. The woman held a baby.

Blevins asked the woman if she knew the infant.

"No," she said, according to an arrest report. "I'm just watching the baby. I heard him screaming from across the lot."

Blevins did not get the woman's name, and after about two minutes she left.

That's when Richard Anthony Gleash arrived, pushing a shopping cart full of groceries. As he got closer to the van, and as he saw Blevins and the baby, Gleash cried, the report stated.

"Oh, my God," he said. "I forgot."

Gleash told Blevins he was in the store for at least 20 minutes, according to the police report.

Gleash apologized. And then he apologized again. And then he apologized again.

On Tuesday afternoon, Walker County Magistrate Judge Sheila Thompson reduced Gleash's charges to reckless conduct.

Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com.

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